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Statement Of Work
About A Statement of Work (SOW) is a formal document that captures inputs or defines the work activities being performed, deliverables, and timeline a vendor must execute the specified work being requested for a task, service, or project. The SOW usually includes detailed requirements and pricing, with standard regulatory and governance terms and conditions. In most cases, the SOW is a legal binding contract.RFP Solutions, "Statement of Work Writing Guide". http://www.rfpsolutions.ca/files/SOW_Writing_Guide2.pdf Areas Areas that are typically addressed by a SOW are as follows: Purpose: Why are we doing this project? This is the question that the purpose statement attempts to answer. Scope of Work: This describes roughly the work that must be done in detail and specifies the hardware and software involved and the exact nature of the work to be done. Work Location: This describes where the work must be performed. This also specifies the location of hardware and software and where people will meet to perform the work. Period of Performance: This specifies the allowable time for projects, such as start and finish time, number of hours that can be billed per week or month, where work is to be performed and anything else that relates to scheduling. Deliverable Schedule: This part lists the specific deliverables, describing what is due and when. Applicable Standards: This describes any industry specific standards that need to be adhered to in fulfilling the contract. Acceptance Criteria: This specifies how the buyer or receiver of goods will determine if the product or service is acceptable, what objective criteria will be used to state the work is acceptable. See Acceptance testing Special 'Requirements:' This specifies any special hardware or software, specialised workforce requirements, such as degrees or certifications for personnel, travel requirements, and anything else not covered in the contract specifics. Contract Type/Payment Schedule: The project acceptance will depend on if the budget available will be enough to cover the work required. Therefore payments breakdown whether up front or phased will be negotiated very early at this stage. Misc: There are many items that do not form part of the main negotiations but are nonetheless very important to the project. They seem minor but being overlooked or forgotten could pose problems for the project. Checklist Remember to select the right “type” of SOW for your requirement: 1. Performance-based (the default for Professional Services Contracts) 2. Detail/Design (for highly prescriptive requirements) 3. Level-of-Effort (for Temp Help, Data Entry of other similar requirements) Try to write your SOW in a sufficiently detailed manner, so as to provide enough of a basis at a later stage when you will be required to extract relevant criteria that will be used to differentiate competing proposals. Remember that the selection criteria that you develop for your RFP must have a logical foundation within the text of the SOW - you cannot differentiate bidders on factors that have no relevance to the work itself (as described within the SOW), as this would be both meaningless and unfair. If writing a Performance-based SOW, try not to “tie the Bidders’ hands” by being overly prescriptive in your description of the work and the manner in which it is to be undertaken. While care should always be taken to fully describe your requirement (as per above), try to balance this by leaving bidders with the flexibility in their proposals to offer innovative strategies, and to accept maximum responsibility and accountability for the results of their work. The primary risk in being overly prescriptive in your SOW is contractor “finger-pointing” and unwillingness to accept responsibility for results (“I did it the way you asked for it; if you don’t like the outcome, don’t blame me,...”). When writing your SOW, try to think ahead to the contract management stage (once the winning bidder has been selected and the work is underway). In doing this, try to write your SOW in such a way as to ensure that the mutual expectations of the resulting contract will be adequately described and easily understood. Once the contract is underway, a well-written SOW will go a long way to minimizing potential misunderstandings and/or disputes with your Contractor. Remember to always use generic (non-proprietary) terminology and references in describing your requirements. This enables greater competition, and it also minimizes the risk of a bid challenge or allegation that the requirements were slanted to a particular bidder. Remember to use the present/active tense when writing your SOW, as the document needs to survive the RFP process and move forward intact into the contract itself. If the document is written in the present/active tense, it can be more easily interpreted at various points in time throughout the RFP/Contract cycle. The words “will” and “shall” have specific, legally interpreted meanings within a SOW. The word “Shall” is always used to convey a binding provision on the Contractor (i.e. “The Contractor shall supply,...”). The word “Will” is always used to convey a declaration of future action by the Buyer/Government (i.e. “The Department will provide the Contractor with,...”). Using the principles and examples provided within the SOW Writing Guide, group information as logically aspossible within your SOW. There is an abundance of information associated with an SOW, and it is used by different audiences for different purposes, at different points in time. The SOW template has a place for everything, and a good SOW places everything in its proper place. Try to use plain and simple language in writing your SOW, and to avoid jargon, vague terms and rambling sentences. While there is a natural tendency to want to cover-off all possible contingencies in a SOW and to establish the basis for an iron tight, no-risk, enforceable contract, this often leads to excessive “legalese” with the document, creating confusion, misunderstandings and contradictions. Ask yourself: “What would a reasonable person looking at this conclude?”. Remember to spell out acronyms and provide definitions for any technical or unique terms used within your SOW. There is tremendous potential within a SOW for overlap, duplication, and/or contradiction with the Terms and Conditions (T’s & C’s) of the resulting Contract. Remember – the contents of the SOW are variable to define the requirement(s) at hand vs. the T’s & C’s which contain the standard terms and conditions of the resulting contract. If it’s covered-off in the T’s & C’s, you generally don’t need to worry about it in the SOW. Above all, do your best in the SOW to convey to the Bidders what it will take on their part to complete the work to your satisfaction, and accordingly what it will take for them to ultimately have their work accepted and certified for payment. RFP Solutions, "Statement of Work Writing Guide". http://www.rfpsolutions.ca/files/SOW_Writing_Guide2.pdf References Links Video Category:Project Management